Glen Affric crash site

At ten o'clock on the night of 13 February 1942, a Vickers Wellington Type 1c bomber crashed into a hillside in Glen Affric.

The crew of six all survived. It was their last training exercise before going to fight in the Second World War in the Middle East. Today, there is little to see at the scene of the crash but there are personal accounts of the accident that tell us what happened that night.

This photo of the remains of the Wellington Bomber crash site was taken years later.

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium-sized bomber designed in the mid-1930s in Surrey, by the aircraft company Vickers-Armstrongs. The Wellington was named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, who, in 1815, defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

The plane was widely used as a night-time bomber in the early years of World War 2 in Europe but was later replaced by the Lancaster. It continued to serve throughout the war in other duties, particularly as an anti-submarine aircraft.

In the Middle East, however, where the crew of the crashed bomber were to be stationed, it was used throughout the war. Wellingtons based in India became the Royal Air Force's first long-range bomber operating in the Far East.Audio